RSK CREATED OUT OF KRAJINA SERBS’ NEED TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM NEW GENOCIDE

BELGRADE, December 18 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Krajina /RSK/, which was founded on St. Nicholas Day in 1991, was created as a reflection of Krajina Serbs’ need to protect themselves from a new genocide and as a response to the policies of the pro-Ustasha regime of Franjo Tuđman, Miodrag Linta, the head of the Association of Serbs from the Region, told SRNA.

Linta emphasized that the goal of that pro-Ustasha regime was the creation of a Croatian state without Serbs, recalling Tuđman’s threatening statement made at the First HDZ Congress in February 1990, when he said that the genocidal NDH was not a fascist creation but rather a historical expression of the Croatian people’s aspiration for freedom.

According to him, Tuđman then said that upon coming to power he began a confrontation with the Serb people with the aim of creating an ethnically pure Croatian state and realizing the plan of Chief .

He recalled that Tuđman’s regime formed paramilitary formations and special police forces which, in 1990 and 1991, carried out terror against Serbs in Croatia’s cities and towns.

"Numerous cases of hate speech, threats, pressure, insults, the eviction of Serbs from apartments, and the setting explosives to more than 10,000 Serb-owned houses and business premises in Croatian cities were recorded. This was followed by physical attacks, kidnappings, torture, and murders of Serbs," Linta cited in a written statement.

Linta noted that Republika Srpska Krajina experienced a catastrophe due to the policy of double standards of Western power centres, as well as because of the misguided and irresponsible policies of the then authorities in Serbia.

He pointed out that more than half a million Serbs were expelled from that area, from most of Western Slavonia, and from Croatian cities, more than 10,000 of whom were killed.

Linta stressed that Croatia, through the criminal operations "Otkos," "Orkan," "Papuk 91," "Miljevci Plateau," "Maslenica," "Medak Pocket," "Flash," and "Storm," carried out ethnic cleansing of the Serb people from their ancestral homes, committed brutal crimes against Serb civilians and prisoners of war, and engaged in systematic looting and destruction of Serb-owned property.